3 i4 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



the splendid roads with which British India is so- 

 plentifully provided. At last a succession of bumps 

 and jolts told us we had entered upon a country track, 

 and this we followed till the sun was reddening the 

 eastern sky. It was broad day when we reached our 

 destination a native village. Here the sleepy herds- 

 men were just beginning to unpen and drive out their 

 herds of curious-looking goats and sheep, exactly in 

 the same way that their forefathers did one and 

 probably two thousand years ago. These villages 

 still present the same roughly defensive aspect, cluster- 

 ing as they do round some central keep, that their 

 architects learned when a succession of northern con- 

 querors swept over the land. 



H 's shikari came to meet us, and told us he 



had the two bullock-carts waiting a little way from the 

 village, at the edge of the plain where we were to 

 shoot. We shouldered our rifles and set off. Round 

 the village well were clustered picturesque groups of 

 girls and women, chattering and drawing water, while 

 perched on the walls and trees were flocks of gorgeous 

 peafowl sacred of course. A short walk brought us 

 to the carts, most primitive structures, with bodies 

 shaped to go over the wheels, and filled for the occasion 

 with a little grass for us to sit on. Wishing one 

 another good luck we parted company. 



My cart bumped and rattled along for some time, 

 till at last my servant, who was sitting in front with 

 the driver, leant back and told me he could see two 

 chikara. I told him to drive towards them, and when 

 a couple of hundred yards off, I slipped off the cart and 



